After 7 M&As in 7 Years, I Thought I'd Seen It All. Then I Completed a Remote M&A Amid a Global Pandemic.

The past six months have ushered in a new way of working for all of us. As someone who previously spent five days a week in the office strategizing alongside my teams and traveling an average of 10 to 12 days per month for business, this new routine from home has been a bit foreign to me. If someone would have told me a year ago that our company of more than 30,000 employees would be fully remote, that I'd help complete an acquisition for our growing $1 billion security business from my dining room and that we'd experience a record year of growth as an organization amid a global pandemic, I never would have believed it. This year has challenged me as a leader, team player and mentor to reevaluate how we adapt in challenging times, continue tracking toward aggressive goals and weather any storm as a united team.

As I reflect on this year, one moment that challenged me the most was completing an acquisition fully remote. I've been through seven major business milestones during my time at Carbon Black, including acquisitions on both sides and an IPO. When VMware Carbon Black acquired Octarine in May 2020, the entire process — from first conversations to executive interviews, presentations and official signatures on the dotted line — was completed digitally.